I usually do not tell fish stories, well OK not online anyway. This story is so exceptional I have to share. I spent the last two days with a father and son from Boston, repeat clients. They fish with flies and cast well enough that I can use my bigger streamers. Our first day together brought several nice fish to the boat including the one in the picture. Not bad but nothing exceptional.
This morning we had fog and overcast and I was on a secluded pond with them casting to shore. I saw a fish further out slashing bait and moved the boat to allow the flies to land in the general area. Nothing… When I started back toward the shoreline the father’s fly stops mid cast and for a moment he and I both think he has hooked a log or something on the bottom. Suddenly the line starts to move. Clearly a big fish and he is taking line.
From a guides perspective there is nothing more difficult to coach than a flycaster with their first really big fish on. Set the hook, play the line out until you are on the reel and most importantly keep your hands off of the drag. A six weight fly rod is under a lot of stress at that moment and anything can go wrong. All of that played out in seconds and we were rewarded with two jumps well clear of the water by the biggest largemouth bass I have ever seen.
Seven maybe eight pounds, needless to say a monster capable of jumping two feet above the water surface. After those spectacular jumps he dove deep and suddenly the line went slack. The ten pound test tippet had been cut, perhaps by a gill cover or a spine when the fish rolled. Needless to say I am playing the movie of those jumps over and over in my head while cleaning up this afternoon.
I’ll be back and maybe next time I will be on the end of that fly rod!
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